Josh Allen can finally play “point guard” and the Bills aren’t missing Stefon Diggs by any means. In fact, they replaced Stefon Diggs with Keon Coleman in the mural together with Josh Allen in downtown Buffalo. Goes to show that Buffalo fans don’t support the selfish mentality that certain players exhibit.
Allen’s 288-yard, 4-touchdown performance against the Jags showed that he’s on par with Super Bowl champion Patrick Mahomes in everything he does. Speaking of Mahomes, Dan Patrick pointed out on his show on NBC that Patrick Mahomes became better after Tyreek Hill left the team. Why? Because he had more freedom to move the ball around. Is it the same with Josh Allen?
Well, Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated didn’t mince his words when he spoke to Dan Patrick after witnessing the jaw-dropping 47-10 landslide win against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
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He sees flashes of Patrick Mahomes in Allen, who now also has a “revolving door at receivers” to deal with. Mahomes is also making do with Rashee Rice, Xavier Worthy and Hollywood Brown. The loss of Stefon Diggs reminded Albert Breer of the time when Mahomes lost Tyreek Hill.
“Is it not exactly the situation Mahomes was in two years ago when they traded Tyreek, right? And it’s a reality of having a quarterback on such a big contract, right, is that you have to build a different way. Generally it takes a year or two after the guy gets paid to sort of feel the effects of that,” Albert Breer said on the Dan Patrick Show on NBC Sports.
The Kansas City Chiefs let Tyreek Hill go to the Miami Dolphins in 2022. Since then, Patrick Mahomes won two Super Bowls. However, for the Buffalo Bills, it all began in August this year when they let go of Chase Claypool. It was shortly followed by the release of WR Damiere Byrd, linebackers Shayne Simon and Deion Jones, lineman Kevin Jarvis, DE Rondell Bothroyd, and corner Kyron Brown on August 25. But the most important of those trades was that of Diggs. How does it compare to the Chiefs?
Last year, the Chiefs lacked a good receiver core and Mahomes still managed to win the Super Bowl, with just Rashee Rice as a reliable pass catcher. All of that without Tyreek Hill’s presence. This year though, they have Rice, Xavier Worthy, and Hollywood Brown as their receivers. Similarly, Allen also has Keon Coleman, Khalil Shakir, Dalton Kincaid, and Ty Johnson. They aren’t new faces in the Bills roster but weren’t in focus when Stefon Diggs was the primary target.
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Is Stefon Diggs' departure a blessing in disguise for Josh Allen and the Bills?
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“I think Mahomes has been awesome the last two years despite the revolving door at receiver that they’ve dealt with and he really showed his value and how they played in the last couple of years. He bought time for a young defense to really grow up and come into its own and we’re seeing the same sort of dynamic in Buffalo with Josh Allen now,” Breer added later.
After all this happened, Buffalo still had a perfect start to their season. But fans still beg the question as to why they let such a top-flight guy like Stefon Diggs leave.
Why did the Buffalo Bills deprive Josh Allen of Stefon Diggs?
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The official reason for the release settlement was that Brandon Beane decided to ponder the salary cap situation and let him go. Unofficial reason? The constant sideline drama, Diggs taking to X and taking shots at the Bills. It turns out that this the rift between these BFFs wasn’t something new. The rift was apparent, something had to be done. Now that Josh Allen has autonomy over his actions, he’s slated to achieve great things. Let’s talk about the salary cap situation first.
Despite the 4x Pro Bowl expressing his desire to retire from the franchise multiple times, the Bills let him go and took $31 million in dead cap in exchange for a second-round choice in the 2025 draft. Bills’ desperation to Diggs let go became obvious when they also packaged him with a sixth-round pick in the 2024 draft and a fifth-round pick in the 2025 draft. The rift between Allen and Diggs also implored the Bills GM to say that he traded them because he didn’t want problems in the future.
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“I think there’s a lot of things you weigh,” Beane said. “A player of his caliber, you weigh a lot of things on the situation. Ultimately, we just talked about the cap, you make moves, I don’t need to go through all the reasons why we decided to go ahead and do that. I would say from a cap standpoint, we decided just to go ahead and eat it now, and we think we can compete and do what we need to do by eating it now and then not walk into next year [with issues].
Josh Allen is doing a phenomenal job of standing on his own even after Diggs left, right? Still, with a “fresh coat of paint,” the Buffalo Bills headed to the 2024 season and started 3-0. After the game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Bills QB explained how he now has the chance to spread the ball around more, and none of his receivers are worried about “stats.” What do you think about the decision to let the 4x Pro Bowl receiver go? Let us know in the comments section below.
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Is Stefon Diggs' departure a blessing in disguise for Josh Allen and the Bills?